Aged residential care occupancy for 30 June 2017 quarter

By John McDougall, Data Analyst, NZACA

The national occupancy figure at 30 June 2017 is 87.0% (Figure 1, red line). This is up from 86.0% in March, an increase of 1.0%. This shift in occupancy is largely due to a 0.9% increase in residents (up 293 to 33,672) from March to June. However, a 0.3% reduction (down 108 to 38,697) in the bed supply between the quarters also contributed to the increase in the occupancy rate.

There were 668 distinct care facilities recorded in the 30 June 2017 survey, representing a net decrease of 4 from the 672 care facilities recorded in the 31 March 2017 survey.

Figure 1 also shows the occupancy rate with ORA ARRC-certified bed and residents (green line) excluded. This stands at 88.5% in June, up 1.5% from 87.0% in March.

The average occupancy rate for NZACA members in June was, at 87.3%, again higher than for non-members (83.9%).

The DHB with the highest occupancy in the June 2017 quarter was Northland, at 92.6%, up 2.6% from March(Table 1 and Figure 2). Hawke’s Bay DHB had the second highest occupancy in June at 92.4%.

Figure 2 ranks the DHBs in descending order of their shift in occupancy between March and June 2017. The largest jump in occupancy occurred in Wairarapa (up 5% to 87.9%). This is followed by a 4.0% increase (to 89.0%) in Counties Manukau and a 3.4% increase (to 89.4%) in Waitemata.

Table 2 shows the national occupancy difference by (non-ORA) bed type in March 2017 and June 2017. Occupancy of dedicated rest home beds increased by 2.2% to 90.0%. Occupancy of dedicated hospital beds also increased, but by a smaller amount – up 0.9% to 89.4%.

Table 3 shows occupancy across all DHB regions by (non-ORA) bed-service type at 30 June 2017.